Black Irish (old): Difference between revisions

For people of African descent in Ireland, see Black people in Ireland

For the cocktail sometimes called a "Frozen Black Irish", see bolded entry in White Russian (cocktail)

Black Irish is a traditional term believed to have originated in the United States that commonly ascribes to a dark brown or black hair phenotype appearing in Caucasian persons of Irish descent. This can be distinguished in contrast to the (lighter) brown, blond or red hair color variant, the latter stereotypically perceived by many to solely personify the look of typical Irish folk. The term itself is rather ambiguous and not frequently used in everyday conversation. As such, the description of those it depicts has been known to vary to a degree in that some have differing views on which physical characteristics (e.g., dark hair, brown eyes, medium skin tone or dark hair, blue eyes, pale skin tone) best define the appearance of the so-called Black Irish.

Inspired by a myth that claims the darker features to be of Iberian derivation, some have looked to science for answers, often citing genetic studies pertaining to those with Irish (and/or British) ancestry. This is seen as a means of determining what genotypic and environmental factors have contributed to the divergence between the more or less prevalent types found among Irish people.

Origin

The first clear evidence of human habitation in Ireland has been carbon dated to circa 7000 B.C. Written records pertinent to the existence of primordial peoples have yet to be discovered, but legends such as those described in the Book of Invasions refer to a number of historical ethnic groups including the Fomorians, Nemedians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha Dé Danann, and Milesians. Despite the lack of empirical data linking them to the Irish, one or more of these races have been acknowledged in previous and current ancestral studies. Worthy of mention is Dennis O'Mullally's History of O'Mullally and Lally Clan, or The history of an Irish family through the ages entertwined with that of the Irish nation, wherein the author comments on the Fir Bolg as "the aboriginal people of Ireland, smaller in stature than the Gaels, with jet-black hair and dark eyes, contrasting with unusually white skin." Such observations again lack the proper scientific backing, but recent advances in genetics continue to offer more clues.

Likewise, the term Black Irish is sometimes accompanied by a claim suggesting the physical traits to be the result of Iberian admixture originating with survivors of the Spanish Armada. However, the genetic contributions of the latter were likely to have been insignificant, as most Armada survivors were killed on the beaches, and much of the remainder eventually escaped from Ireland. It is believed that a grouping of Spanish soldiers ended up serving as armed retainers to the Irish chiefs Brian O'Rourke, Sorley Boy MacDonnell, and Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. Consequently, these soldiers may have lived in Ireland long enough to father children, but did not constitute a very large number. The evidence is that the survivors of the Spanish Armada probably left no genetic legacy as the Irish have only minute amounts of Neolithic Near Eastern Y chromosome genetic markers such as E3b and J, both of which are present in low, but significant, levels throughout Spain (with the exception of the Basque Country).

Iberian connection

The Spanish Armada myth is thought to have been a corruption of a story based on the Milesians (not to be confused with the ancient Greek people of the same name), the purported descendants of Míl Espáine (Latin Miles Hispaniae, "Soldier of Hispania", later pseudo-Latinised as "Milesius"), speculated to represent Celtic-speaking peoples from the western Iberian peninsula who began to migrate to Ireland and Britain in the fifth century B.C.

Genetic research also shows a strong similarity between the Y chromosome haplotypes of males from northwestern Spain and Irish males with Gaelic surnames, with a sizeable difference between the west and the east of Ireland, in that much of those from the west owe less of their DNA to Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian populations. Genetic marker R1b reaches frequencies as high as 98% in northwestern Ireland and 95% in southwestern Ireland, but only 73% in northeastern Ireland and 85% in southeastern Ireland. Additionally, R1b averages between 89% and 95% in Y chromosomes of the Basques of northern Spain (and southwestern France) considerably greater than levels of the same haplogroup found amongst the remaining Spanish genepool, where it varies from region to region in a range from 42% to 75%, but mostly with percentages in the 50s and 60s. Furthermore, in recently published books (Blood of the Isles by Bryan Sykes and The Origins of the British - A Genetic Detective Story by Stephen Oppenheimer), both authors agree that ancient inhabitants of Ireland can be traced back to the Iberian Peninsula, as a result of a series of migrations that took place during the Mesolithic and Neolithic Age. These movements theoretically laid the foundations for present-day populations in the British Isles. According to journalist Nicholas Wade, Oppenheimer maintains there is a great lineal commonality between the Irish and British people, as reported in the March 6, 2007 edition of the New York Times. The Oxford University geneticist also points out that a language closely related to Basque was long ago spoken by their shared ancestors.

Statistics

In a statistical survey of the Irish carried out by Mr. C. Wesley Dupertuis in the 1940s under the endorsement and guidance of The Division of Anthropology of Harvard University, based on some 10,000 adult males, the following information was gathered and so documented.

The hair color of the Irish is predominantly brown. Less than three percent have black or ashen hair; 40% have dark brown hair. Medium brown hues make up another 35%. Persons with blond and light brown hair account for close to 15%, while approximately 10% have red hair. Both golden and dark brown shades can be seen in the southwestern counties of Ireland, but fairest hair in general is most common in the Great Plain. Ulster has been evidenced to have the highest frequencies of red hair with the lowest found in Wexford and Waterford.

In further examining pigmentation characteristics (both as a whole and regionally), studies have indicated the Irish are 'almost uniquely pale skinned when unexposed, untanned parts of the body, are observed' and '40% of the entire group are freckled to some extent.' Moreover, 'in the proportion of pure light eyes', data shows that 'Ireland competes successfully with the blondest regions of Scandinavia,' as approximately 42% of the Irish population have blue eyes. Another 30% have been found to possess light-mixed eyes and 'less than one half of one percent have pure brown.'

The complete results of this survey have been condensed and arranged in the Harvard Anthropometric Laboratory (formerly under the close supervision of Professor Earnest A. Hooton) with the cooperation of both governments in Ireland.

Other uses

A lesser-known point of origin refers to the potato famine of 1845-1851, which turned the blighted potatoes 'black' and as a result drove thousands of Irish to America's shores.

The term has also been used to denote the offspring of Irish laborers and African slaves in the Caribbean. Montserrat, by far, experienced the highest concentration of Irish immigrants, as it was forcibly settled by the English crown using indentured servants from Ireland. These Irish servants were eventually replaced by West African slaves who took on the surnames of the prior inhabitants, much as African slaves in the United States assumed the names of their owners.

In the United States, whites with Native American, African American, or other non-white ancestry may historically have called themselves "Black Irish," "Black Dutch," or "Black German" as a reflection of their coloring.

A prominent theme of ethnology in Victorian England largely stemming from social prejudices of the time was that the Irish were racially different to the English people and thus considered inferior. Polygenism was a dominant theory, as was phrenology, and both were employed to 'prove' that Irish persons were less developed and more primitive than other 'races' of humanity. Punch cartoons often portrayed them with protruding jaws, alluding to the notion they were closer to apes than men.

John Beddoe (1826-1911), one of the most notable ethnologists in the United Kingdom, supported these concepts with his work. In The Races of Britain: A Contribution to the Anthropology of Western Europe (1862), Beddoe wrote that all geniuses were orthognathous (having the front of the skull, almost vertical, not receding above the jaws), as opposed to the Irish and Welsh whom he exaggeratedly described as prognathous. Evasive or ignorant of the pre-Saxon Celtic influence on the English and likely his own forebears, Beddoe claimed that the Celts were closely related to Cro-Magnon man, theorized by him, as being linked to the 'Africanoid'. The Races of Britain was republished in 1885, 1905, and again in 1971.

See also

• Celtiberians
• Basque people
• Gaels
• Irish people
• Irish American
• Lebor Gabála Érenn
• Milesians

External links

• Genetic study that links the Irish to Basques [1]

• DNA shows Scots and Irish should look to Spain for their ancestry

• A Y Chromosome Census of the British Isles; Cristian Capelli, Nicola Redhead, Julia K. Abernethy, Fiona Gratrix, James F. Wilson, Torolf Moen, Tor Hervig, Martin Richards, Michael P. H. Stumpf, Peter A. Underhill, Paul Bradshaw, Alom Shaha, Mark G. Thomas, Neal Bradman, and David B. Goldstein Current Biology, Volume 13, Issue 11, Pages 979-984 (2003). Retrieved 6 December 2005.

• Basque connection to the Welsh
• Genetic research links the Irish closer to Spain and Scandinavia than the Celts
• Southern Methodist University's curriculum material
• The Look of the Irish, The Washington Post (featuring reference to the Black Irish) [2]